Key-operated rotatable part of valves, faucets, locking devices, or other articles



J. BLISS.

KEY OPERATED ROTATABLE PART OF VALVES, FAUCETS, LOCKING DEVICES, OR OTHER ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3.1919.

1,327,587, Patented Jan. 6, 1920,

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l5 lyenlof SAW BALM JOHN BLISS, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

KEY-OPERATED ROTATABLE PART {PE Specification of Letters Patent.

VATLVES, FAUCETS, LOCKING DEVICES, OR OTHER ARTICLES.

Patented Jan.i6,'19'2o.

' Application filed July 3, 191a. Serial no. 303,585.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN BLISS, a subject of the King of England, residing in London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Key-Operated Rotatable Parts of Valves, Faucets, Locking Devices, or other Articles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to key-operated rotatable parts of valves or other devices, such as locking-devices, and has for its primary object to provide such parts which shall be of simple construction but shall not be adapted to be rotatedwithout the use of a key intended for the same.

It is well-known that the valve-member of faucets or draw-off cocks has commonly been provided with a recess in the top of it into which a square or triangular key could be entered for the purpose of turning the member to open and close the valve, but when such a key is withdrawn the valve can still be turned with comparative ease by means of tools such as a screw-driver pushed into the orifice, as a triangular or square recess is more or less easily fitted with something which engages it with suflicient accuracy to impart turning movement to the part. Another object of this invention is to obviate this defect and to provide a faucet, the spigot of which has in its outer end a recess of such a sha e that the spigot is not adapted to be turnec by unauthorized persons using a tool, such as a screw-driver, inserted into the recess.

A further object is to provide an improved key which is adapted to turn rotatable parts of the kind referred to, and which is of a simple construction but nevertheless of such shape that no ordinary tool or implement that is in common use can be substituted for it.

To these ends the invention consists in the construction and arrangement of parts, and in the combination of parts described hereinafter and pointed out in the claims.

One embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in vertical section, showing one form of faucet or draw-off cock according to the invention, a key according to the invention being shown inserted therein;

'ter recess B, B to receive a key D.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the faucet after the key has been removed therefrom, and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the key alone.

Like reference letters designate like parts throughout the several views. I

Referring to the drawing, the faucet may be of any construction, that shown comprising a casing or support A into which is screwed a spigot or screw-down plug A, the top of which is provided with a two-diame- The recess comprises a large circular portion or recess B which is concentric with the axis of rotation of the spigot, and at the bottom of this portion B is an eccentrically situated smaller circular portion or recess B into which the former portion or recess extends. Both the portions B, B are parallel-with the axis of rotation of the spigot, the larger being concentric therewith.

The key D has a stem D which has one end shaped to form a grip D the other end of the. stem consists of a circular portion whose axis is parallel with the axis of the stem, and a smaller eccentric and circular portion D extending therefrom in a direction parallel with the axis of the stem. As shown in Fig. l, the circular portion D of the stem of the key is made to fit into the recess B, and the circular portion D at the end of the stem is made to fit into the recess B It will be seen that by inserting the key D into the recess in the plug A, so that the eccentric part D fits into the eccentric portion 13 of the recess, the key will be interlocked with the plug so that angular movement imparted to it will impart corresponding angular movement to the plug, and the plug can thus be screwed out for opening the' cook or screwed in for closing the same, whereas when the key is removed the plug affords no means whereby it can be easily got hold of to rotate it as the top is flat and, by properly dimensioning the parts, it may be made to screw down into suchposition with relation to the top of the valve body A that it is impossible to grip the periphery thereof and nothing can be easily made to fit into the recess B, B so as to interlock with the plug for the purpose of turning it.

Obviously the invention may be applied to devices or articles other than valves, such as latches of cupboards, where it is not de sired to have a handle always available for their operation; moreover, if applied to a valve, it need not be a valve of the screwdown type though the movable part of the valve should be so formed as to be sufliciently tight to prevent its being rotated by merely knocking in, say, a peg of wood into the recess B.

The eccentric portion D of the key or the corresponding portion B of the recess B, need not be circular, as, provided there is an eccentric port-ion, this can be of any other convenient shape, but the circular form is the more easy to manufacture.

- What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. The combination, with a support, of a key-operated member mounted to rotate therein, which member has in an outer face a circular recess that is parallel with its axis of rotation and extends into a smaller circular recess that also is parallel with said axis of rotation and is eccentric relatively to the former recess.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination, with a casing, of a keyoperated valve-member rotatable therein having a circular recess which is approximately concentric with the axis of rotation of the said member, and having at the bottom of this circular recess a smaller recess which is situated eccentrically therein and has its axis parallel with said axis of rotation.

3. A spigot having in its outer end twodiameter recess whereof the larger part is circular and is approximately concentric with the axis of rotation of the spigot, and the smaller part is also circular and is eccentric relatively to the larger part.

4:. The combination, with a support, of a keyoperated member mounted to rotate therein, which member has in an outer face a circular recess that is concentric with its axis of rotation and extends into a smaller circular recess that is eccentric relatively to said axis of rotation, and a key having a stem comprising a circular portion fitting into said circular recess and a smaller circular portion fitting into said smaller recess.

5. A key having a stem which has one end shaped to form a grip and its other end consisting of a circular portion whose axis is parallel with the axis of the stem, and a smaller eccentric and circular portion extending therefrom in a direction parallel with the axis of the stem. v

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature.

J OHN BLISS. 

